Systems, devices, or methods for accessing information employing a tumbler-style graphical user interface

ABSTRACT

A tumbler-style graphical user interfaces (TSGUI) facilitates high context rapid selection of content objects from at least tumbler components. Selection of content objects can relate to a path for a memory to access a related final information. The TSGUI can be employed in mobile computing devices, including telephonic mobile computing devices. Optionally, a TSGUI of a mobile device can facilitate access to content in relation to messaging applications native to the mobile device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, and claims the benefit ofpriority to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/271,022, entitled“SYSTEMS, DEVICES, OR METHODS FOR ACCESSING INFORMATION EMPLOYING ATUMBLER-STYLE GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE” and filed May 6, 2014, which isa continuation of, and claims the benefit of priority to, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/343,409, entitled “SYSTEMS, DEVICES, OR METHODSFOR ACCESSING INFORMATION EMPLOYING A TUMBLER-STYLE GRAPHICAL USERINTERFACE” and filed Dec. 23, 2008 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,893,040, issuedNov. 18, 2014). The entireties of each of the aforementionedapplications are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Modern communication devices typically have mechanisms for participatingin messaging service protocols such as text messaging by short messagingservice (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS) instant messaging (IM)applications, IP messaging, email, and the like. Typically, each ofthese protocols remains a separate and distinct application on a userequipment. Further, many of these protocols employ distinctcommunications hardware backbones that are distinct and not supportiveof cross protocol interactions. As a result, many communications onmodern user equipment, commonly referred to as “texting” (which includesSMS, MMS, IM, IP messaging, email, voice snippets, emoticons, visualmessaging, and many others), employ multiple protocols, numerousinboxes, outboxes, and commonly third party software applications tofacilitate some level of simplifying and unifying the numerouscommunication avenues.

The negative impact of overlapping and cumbersome “texting” platforms(e.g., any combination of the numerous forms of text/video/voicecommunications other than a traditional voice phone call) on mobiledevices has not gone without notice by device manufacturers, serviceproviders, and third party application developers. Third partydevelopers often are the most nimble and quickest to respond to attemptsat fulfilling a long-felt need such as a unified messaging platform tosupport “texting”. However, many of these third party developers havelacked access to aspects of the hardware and core software of the myriaddevices, systems, and protocols for texting. As a result, many thirdparty applications are not robust enough, broad enough, or implementedin an attractive manner and therefore fail to fulfill the long-feltneeds of the masses.

Device manufacturers and service providers generally are not as nimbleas smaller third party application developers and are more constrainedin business decision making and rarely rush to put out product that isfriendly to a competitor's product, service, or protocol. As a result,solutions for consumer's long-felt needs may go unfulfilled by devicemanufacturers and service providers despite these entities having betteraccess to the subsystems and core engineering that would enable them todevelop a more ideal system/device in a less competitive environment.

As mobile device technologies becomes more ubiquitous and begin mergingwith more traditional computer manufacture and development, products andservices are appearing for mobile devices that blur the lines betweenmobile and traditional notions of non-mobile devices. Interestingly,many business practices have also adapted to the coalescing mobilecomputing environment. One result of this is more interaction betweendevice manufacturers and service providers in development and standardssetting environments. This is also true across competing platforms wherethe realization is that consumers will tend to gravitate to a lesslimiting provider where possible and feasible. Thus, to keep customers,making devices and services competitor-friendly has become almost asurvival requirement.

The resulting more cooperative development environment is yieldingimproved services and devices for customers. One area of improvementthat will be of great benefit to mobile device users is the move towardunification of messaging systems. There is clearly a desire andlong-felt need to simplify and effectively coalesce the plurality ofoverlapping “texting” communications systems. This is also especiallytrue in cross platform and cross provider conditions. Further, supportof legacy devices will be well received by consumers.

One problematic aspect of traditional messaging environments on mobiledevices is separate protocols for media rich and non-media richmessaging. For example, SMS can be used to send a text message whileseparately MMS can be used to send a photo. Moreover, even where somethird party application has cobbled together systems for sending mediarich content contemporaneously with non-media rich messages selectionsystems for choosing content can be cumbersome. In another aspect,traditional selection mechanisms employed on conventional non-mobilesystems frequently rely on external hardware human interface devices,for example mice and keyboards. In a mobile environment these externalsystems can be difficult at best to employ. Further, where internalselection systems are employed (e.g., jog dials, touch screens, etc.)these systems have frequently not been optimized through a soft userinterface to provide truly efficient selection systems for contentavailable to the mobile device.

Of notable exception are some modern portable music systems that havestarted to address rapid content selection employing elegant humaninterface systems. However, even these systems generally only support“drill-down” selection techniques. These drill-down systems may beefficient in these particular devices because the menu levels traversedare limited in scope and generally well known to a user after only ashort indoctrination period allowing nearly rote navigation. Selectionof content in mobile device systems is an important consideration, andimproving efficiency and transparency is highly desirable. Clearly thereis still much room for improvement in mobile device environments foruser access systems that can facilitate efficient and intuitivecomprehension/location of user accessible content in the fast pacedmobile messaging environment of the modern mobile device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system that facilitates employing atumbler-style graphical user interface (TSGUI) in accord with aspects ofthe claimed subject matter.

FIG. 2 depicts example systems that facilitates employing atumbler-style graphical user interface (TSGUI) in accord with aspects ofthe claimed subject matter.

FIG. 3 depicts an example vertical orientation of one possible examplesystem that facilitates employing a tumbler-style graphical userinterface (TSGUI) in accord with aspects of the claimed subject matter.

FIG. 4 depicts another example vertical orientation of one possibleexample system that facilitates employing a tumbler-style graphical userinterface (TSGUI) in accord with aspects of the claimed subject matter.

FIG. 5 depicts another example vertical orientation of one possibleexample system that facilitates employing a tumbler-style graphical userinterface (TSGUI) in accord with aspects of the claimed subject matter.

FIG. 6 illustrates example systems that facilitates employing atumbler-style graphical user interface (TSGUI) with and without cyclictraverse in accord with aspects of the claimed subject matter.

FIG. 7 depicts an example method that facilitates employing atumbler-style graphical user interface (TSGUI) in accord with aspects ofthe claimed subject matter.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example method that facilitates employing atumbler-style graphical user interface (TSGUI) in accord with aspects ofthe claimed subject matter.

FIG. 9 illustrates a sample operating environment that can determine andstore information related to a missed call in accord with aspects of theclaimed subject matter.

FIG. 10 depicts a sample network-environment for effectuating mobilecommunication in accord with aspects of the subject innovation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The claimed subject matter is now described with reference to thedrawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to likeelements throughout. In the following description, for purposes ofexplanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the claimed subject matter. It may beevident, however, that the claimed subject matter may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well-knownstructures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order tofacilitate describing the claimed subject matter.

As used in this application, the terms “component,” “module,” “system”,“interface”, or the like are generally intended to refer to acomputer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware andsoftware, software, or software in execution. For example, a componentmay be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, aprocessor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program,and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application runningon a controller and the controller can be a component. One or morecomponents may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and acomponent may be localized on one computer and/or distributed betweentwo or more computers. As another example, an interface can include I/Ocomponents as well as associated processor, application, and/or APIcomponents, and can be as simple as a command line or a more complexIntegrated Development Environment (IDE).

Furthermore, the claimed subject matter may be implemented as a method,apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/orengineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or anycombination thereof to control a computer to implement the disclosedsubject matter. The term “article of manufacture” as used herein isintended to encompass a computer program accessible from anycomputer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computerreadable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storagedevices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips . . . ), opticaldisks (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD) . . . ),smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick, key drive . .. ). Additionally it should be appreciated that a carrier wave can beemployed to carry computer-readable electronic data such as those usedin transmitting and receiving electronic mail or in accessing a networksuch as the Internet or a local area network (LAN). Of course, thoseskilled in the art will recognize many modifications may be made to thisconfiguration without departing from the scope or spirit of the claimedsubject matter.

Moreover, the word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as anexample, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design describedherein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred oradvantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use of the wordexemplary is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion. As usedin this application, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or”rather than an exclusive “or”. That is, unless specified otherwise, orclear from context, “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of thenatural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; orX employs both A and B, then “X employs A or B” is satisfied under anyof the foregoing instances. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” asused in this application and the appended claims should generally beconstrued to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear fromcontext to be directed to a singular form.

As used herein, the terms to “infer” or “inference” refer generally tothe process of reasoning about or inferring states of the system,environment, and/or user from a set of observations as captured viaevents and/or data. Inference can be employed to identify a specificcontext or action, or can generate a probability distribution overstates, for example. The inference can be probabilistic—that is, thecomputation of a probability distribution over states of interest basedon a consideration of data and events. Inference can also refer totechniques employed for composing higher-level events from a set ofevents and/or data. Such inference results in the construction of newevents or actions from a set of observed events and/or stored eventdata, whether or not the events are correlated in close temporalproximity, and whether the events and data come from one or severalevent and data sources.

It will be appreciated by one of skill in the art that a communicationnetwork for systems described herein can include any suitable mobileand/or landline based circuit-switched communication network including aGSM network, a time division multiple access (TDMA) network, a CDMAnetwork, such as IS-95 and subsequent iterations of CDMA technology, anintegrated digital enhanced network (iDEN) network and a public switchedtransport network (PSTN). Further examples of a communication networkcan include any suitable data packet-switched or combination datapacket/circuit-switched communication network, e.g., a wired or wirelessinternet protocol (IP) network such as a voice over internet protocol(VoIP) network, an IP data network, a universal mobile telecommunicationsystem (UMTS) network, a general packet radio service (GPRS) network,and other communication networks that provide streaming datacommunication over IP and/or simultaneous voice and data communicationover combination data packet/circuit-switched technologies.

Similarly, one of skill in the art will appreciate that a communicationdevice for systems disclosed herein can include a mobile device, mobilephone, a PSTN phone, a cellular communication device, a cellular phone,a satellite communication device, a satellite phone, a VoIP phone, aWiFi phone, a dual-mode cellular/WiFi phone, a combinationcellular/VoIP/WiFi/WiMAX phone or any suitable combination thereof.Specific examples of a mobile device can include cellular devices suchas GSM, TDMA, CDMA, IS-95 and iDEN phones and cellular/WiFi devices suchas dual-mode GSM, TDMA, IS-95 or iDEN/VoIP phones, UMTS phones UMTS VoIPphones, or like devices or combinations thereof. In support of mobiledevices a gateway routing component of such a system can include anysuitable component that can perform centralized routing within a mobile,satellite, or similar network (but optionally does not includecomponents that route strictly within a PSTN network), routing betweencommunication networks, between networks of varying architecture (e.g.,between PSTN, GSM, UMTS, Enterprise VoIP, the Internet, or combinationsthereof), or the like. Specific examples of a gateway routing componentcan include a GMSC, a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN), a session bordercontrol (SBC) device, or like devices. Additionally, a data storagecomponent of such a system can include any suitable device, process,combination device and process, etc., that can store digital and/orswitched information (e.g., server, database, data store, or the like).

Generally, tumbler components of a tumbler-style graphical userinterface (TSGUI) can include one or more selectable features or contentobjects as disclosed herein. Content objects are analogous to thenumbers on a tumbler of a mechanical combination lock. Much as thenumbers on the mechanical tumbler can be selected by rotating them intoan alignment or other position to indicate which number is beingselected, the content objects of the TSGUI tumbler components can beselected. Diverging from the mechanical tumbler analogy, the TSGUItumbler can include one or more content objects at each tumblercomponent. Further, these content objects can be of a plurality of typesand can be ordered and/or sorted. Moreover, the number and type ofcontent component can evolve dynamically. Thus, as available selectionschange, the content components of a tumbler component can reflect thesechanges. Further different from the analogous mechanical tumbler, aTSGUI tumbler component can be devoid of content components in a firststate and become populated with content components in a second state.

Where a plurality of content objects are available for a given tumblercomponent, these can be selectively presented to the user. For example,a content object can be a file, a file folder, a category, a name,emoticon, service, protocol, drive, memory store, address, pointer, etc.(e.g., the content object is a selectable information that facilitatesaccess to a final information and thus reasonably includes almost anycomputer entity capable of so affecting the probability of selecting afinal information as directed by a user.)

To facilitate an efficient understanding of the disclosed subjectmatter, a plurality of tumbler components (e.g., analogs to a pluralityof individual mechanical tumblers) can be described with variousmodifiers such as junior, senior, grandparent, etc. A junior canrepresent a finer grain selection than a related senior. However, thisform of description can be onerous. Generally, discussions of tumblersas children, parents, etc., mirrors discussions of nodal logic. Wheremore complex discussions are given, an alternate nomenclature can beemployed. For example, a junior tumbler component can be referred to asT_(n), a senior as T_(n-1), a grandparent as T_(n-2), etc. Generally,the first tumbler component to be discussed will be given subscript “n”(or other variable) and subsequent tumbler components can be identifiedin relation to that subscript (e.g., more senior tumblers can be lowernumbered and more junior tumblers can be higher numbered.) While thiscan be the preferred nomenclature employed herein, it is to be notedthat other nomenclatures can be employed, and the local description ofthe relationships should be the default for determination of thedisclosed subject matter.

Again, as used herein, a messaging environment can include “text”messages (e.g., short messaging service (SMS) messages, multimediamessaging system (MMS) messages, instant messaging (IM) type messages,IP messages, email messages, video snippets, voice snippets, websnippets, twitters, emoticons, etc.), more especially in a mobile deviceenvironment. Similarly a threaded messaging environment can be the sameas or similar to a messaging environment and further include threadingof messages (e.g., individual messages are threaded or strung togetherto provide additional context to the messages.) While the list ofparticular communications protocols herein is non-exhaustive, it isintended to convey that the connotation of “texting” incorporatesmessages of conversational length, including referenced media typeobjects, exclusive of pure traditional voice conversation as in atelephone call (e.g., a traditional telephone call is not “texting” buta SMS string that includes voice snippets can be considered “texting”).

In accord with an aspect of the claimed subject matter, a predeterminednumber of tumbler components can be displayed to facilitate userselection of a final information. A final information can be accessed byselecting an information at each of the predetermined number of tumblercomponents. In a further aspect, the number of tumbler componentspresented for selection can be dynamic.

In another aspect, the parental context can also facilitate rapidalteration of selection information to select a final information. Auser can easily navigate among the tumbler components to alter aninformation selection. Altering the parental selections can be by: a)Independent selection, b) Validity dependent selection, c) Inferentialselection, d) Clearing Children, or other technique.

In a further aspect, TSGUI can include one or more selectable contentobjects. Where a plurality of content objects are available for a giventumbler component, these can be selectively presented to the user.Moreover, each content object can reflect relevant selectableinformation. Further, content object representations can be presented ina tumbler component so as to facilitate effective navigation andselection among a plurality of content objects. For example,horizontally arranged content objects can be scrolled through forselection within each tumbler component. Selection can be by alignmentof a content object with one or more indicators. Traversing the contentobjects can be linear, cyclic, or by some other technique. One of skillin the art will appreciate that this brief disclosure of the variousaspects of the subject disclosure is not intended to be limiting, thatnumerous other particular embodiments of the various aspects can bepresented, and that all such permutations are to be considered withinthe scope of the present disclosure.

The claimed subject matter provides for systems, devices, and methodsemploying a tumbler-style graphical user interface (TSGUI) facilitatingaccess to information. The TSGUI can be particularly useful in a mobiledevice where human interface modalities can be limited, e.g., limiteddisplay area, limited external hardware interfaces, etc. Further, theTSGUI can facilitate rapid selection of content for messagingapplications, more especially unified messaging applications that arecross platform compatible (e.g., combining SMS, MMS, IM, IP messaging,email, and/or other messaging or “texting” protocols).

As used herein, a messaging environment can include “text” messages(e.g., short messaging service (SMS) messages, multimedia messagingsystem (MMS) messages, instant messaging (IM) type messages, IPmessages, email messages, video snippets, voice snippets, web snippets,twitters, emoticons, etc.), more especially in a mobile deviceenvironment. Similarly a threaded messaging environment can be the sameas or similar to a messaging environment and further include threadingof messages (e.g., individual messages are threaded or strung togetherto provide additional context to the messages.) While the list ofparticular communications protocols herein is non-exhaustive, it isintended to convey that the connotation of “texting” incorporatesmessages of conversational length, including referenced media typeobjects, exclusive of pure traditional voice conversation as in atelephone call (e.g., a traditional telephone call is not “texting” buta SMS string that includes voice snippets can be considered “texting”).

The term “tumbler style” relates to user interface elements thatfacilitate selection of information relating to a path to accessing afinal information/object. These user interface elements can be tumblercomponents. These tumbler components can have strong parallels and be inan aspect analogous to a mechanical combination lock. In a mechanicalcombination lock the user selects elements of a combination with a setof mechanical tumblers, typically selecting a single combination elementwith each mechanical tumbler. Thus, in the mechanical combination lockanalogy, a four tumbler mechanical combination lock would have a fournumber combination to unlock the mechanical combination lock.Analogously, each tumbler component can select an information that incombination would comprise a “combination” to access the finalinformation indicated by the user.

In accord with an aspect of the claimed subject matter, a predeterminednumber of tumbler components can be displayed to facilitate userselection of a final information. A final information can be accessed byselecting an information at each of the predetermined number of tumblercomponents. Access to the final selection can include entry ofinformation in fewer than all of the predetermined tumbler componentspresented when the final information can be accessed with a fewer numberof tumbler component information selections. Additionally, compaction ofsenior tumbler components can free junior tumbler components whereaccessing a final information would include more information entriesthat the predetermined number of tumbler components provided.

In a further aspect, the number of tumbler components presented forselection can be dynamic. The dynamic presentation of additional tumblercomponents can present the user with only as many tumbler components asare needed to identify the final information sought. Where the number ofpresented tumbler components exceeds an allocation of display area, thetumbler components can be altered in appearance or scrolled to provideadditional space for additional tumbler components where needed tocontinue identifying a final information.

In a related aspect, the presentation of a TSGUI includes two or moretumbler components. Further, a junior tumbler component typically allowsselection of a subset of information related to information selectionsof senior tumbler components. Where at least two tumbler components arepresented the user is provided with additional context related toselection of a final information in comparison to drill-down typesystems. This context can include knowledge of more senior informationselections comprising the final information selection. For example,where a senior tumbler component includes a selection of “Maui_1997Vacation_Photos” and the junior tumbler component includes selection ofa final information “Hanging_Ten.jpg”, the user can comprehend that theHanging Ten image is from the senior file of Hawaiian vacation photosfrom 1997 as compared to some other year or some other island chain.Other contextual benefits will be apparent to one of skill in the art.

In an aspect, the parental context can also facilitate rapid alterationof selection information to select a final information. A user caneasily navigate among the tumbler components to alter an informationselection. Altering the parental selections can be done independent ofaltering the junior selections, can be done independent of altering thejunior selections dependant of the continuing validity of the juniorselections, can be related to inferential alteration of juniorselections, can be related to clearing one or more junior selections, orsome combination thereof. Continuing the prior example, where a useralters the senior selection from “Maui_1997_Vacation_Photos” to“Honolulu_1997_Vacation_Photos”:

-   -   a. Independent selection—The junior information selection can be        left unaltered (e.g., altering the parental selection can be an        independent action from altering a junior selection). Where        “Hanging_Ten.jpg” does not exist for the altered parental        selection a final information will not be selected (e.g., where        Hanging_Ten doesn't exist in relation to Honolulu, Hanging_Ten        cannot be selected although it may still be displayed in the        tumbler in this particular embodiment.) This can be particularly        useful, for example, when the user wants to alter a plurality of        parental tumbler component selections before changes to the        junior tumbler information are reflected for selection of a        final information. In addition, where the same information is in        fact valid under the new selection, the alteration of the senior        selection can trigger selection of a new final information, in        this example, where “Hanging_Ten.jpg” exists under both Maui and        Honolulu, altering the senior tumbler selection to Honolulu        results in selection of the picture Hanging_Ten under Honolulu        rather than the picture of the same name under Maui. This can be        the same or a different photo (e.g., there can be two different        photos with the same name under different senior file folders,        there can be the same photo stored in two different locations,        there can be the same file referenced under two different senior        folders, etc.)    -   b. Validity dependent selection—In contrast, to independent        senior-junior selection relationships, a junior selection can be        dependent on continuing validity in light of the alteration of        the senior tumbler component selection. Thus, where        “Hanging_Ten.jpg” is not valid under Honolulu, the selectable        information in the junior tumbler component can be removed        (grayed-out, shaded, or otherwise indicated as an invalid        selection information in relation to the alteration of the        senior tumbler component selection.) This is a highly intuitive        embodiment in which a junior tumbler dynamically reflects        alterations to parental tumbler component selections.    -   c. Inferential selection—Where parental tumbler component        information selections are altered, the junior tumbler        selections can be intelligently populated. This can be        reflective of inferences related to the prior junior tumbler        component selections. For example, “Hanging_Ten.jpg” may not be        relevant under Honolulu, but metadata can indicate that it was a        photo related to surfing such that when the senior is altered        from Maui to Honolulu, the junior tumbler informations can be        altered to intelligently reflect pre-selection of surfing        pictures in the junior tumbler component.    -   d. Clearing Children—Where a senior tumbler selection is        altered, one or more levels of junior tumbler selections can be        cleared. Thus, for example, “Hanging_Ten.jpg”, can be cleared        when the senior selection is altered form Maui to Honolulu. In        an alternate example, where a grandparent tumbler component for        “Hanging_Ten.jpg”, indicates “Vacations” and this tumbler        selection is altered to “Work”, both the senior tumbler        component and junior tumbler can be cleared (e.g., both the        tumbler including the selectable information “Hanging_Ten.jpg”,        and the tumbler component including the selectable information        “Maui_1997_Vacation_Photos” can be cleared).

In a further aspect, TSGUI can include one or more selectableinformations at each of the two or more tumbler components. These cangenerally be referred to as content objects. Where a plurality ofcontent objects are available for a given tumbler component, these canbe selectively presented to the user. For example, a content object canbe a file, a file folder, a category, a name, emoticon, service,protocol, drive, memory store, address, pointer, etc. (e.g., the contentobject is a selectable information that facilitates access to a finalinformation and thus reasonably includes almost any computer entitycapable of so affecting the probability of selecting a final informationas directed by a user.) For example, a content object can represent acategorical selectable information such as “music”, “emoticons”,“images”, “places”, etc. As another example, a content object canrepresent an object selectable information such as “C:\\”, “http://”,“MyDocuments”, “dog.jpg”, “Resume.doc”, InstructionManual.pdf”, etc. Asyet a further example a content object can represent a selectableinformation such as a network name, a cellular service provider, a daterange, database query, an web address or other internet or networkaddress, a phone number, an thumbnail image, etc.

In connection with this aspect, each content object can reflect relevantselectable information. For example, where a selectable information canbe “I want a little sugar in my bowl—Nina Simone.mp3”, the contentobject can reflect the entire file name, a part of the file name, orsome other reflection of the file. Thus, the content object for thisexample file can be represented by:

a. “I want a little sugar in my bowl—Nina Simone.mp3”

b. “ . . . [S]ugar in my bowl . . . Nina Simone.mp3”

c. “I want . . . sugar . . . bowl”

d. “most played, Nina Simone”

e. Etc.

Further, content object representations can be presented in a tumblercomponent so as to facilitate effective navigation and selection among aplurality of content objects. For example, the content objects can belisted horizontally in a tumbler component of a vertical arrangement oftumbler components. One of skill in the art will appreciate thatnumerous other arrangements are possible and that all such arrangementsare within the scope of the present disclosure, for example, verticalalignment of content objects in a horizontal alignment of tumblercomponents, a grid arrangement of tumbler components each displaying agrid arrangement of content objects, nested tumbler components, etc. Forconvenience and compactness of disclosure, these alternate arrangementsare not further discussed herein and the aspects of the subject matterdisclosed herein can be applied to any or all of the other arrangements.

Horizontally (or otherwise) arranged content objects can be scrolledthrough for selection within each tumbler component. Selection can be byalignment of a content object with an indicator. This indicator can bealigned with similar indicators for other tumbler components. Returningto the analogous mechanical tumbler combination lock, each tumbler canrotate a content object into a line that represents a combinationunlocking a final information selection. Other indicators for selectionof a content component can be described and all such indicators arewithin the scope of the disclosure, for example, highlighting a contentobject without aligning the content object with other reference points,etc. These alternate selection indicators are not further discussedherein, but such discussion is herein reserved, for convenience andcompactness of disclosure.

Traversing the content objects can be linear, e.g., objects can scrollleft to right or right to left from a starting content object to anending content object. Traversing can also be cyclic, wherein an endcontent object is followed in sequence by the starting content object.Ordering of the content objects can be alphabetical, temporal, bymetadata, by classification, etc. These ordering sorts can also becombined and/or employed as filters. For example, objects can be orderedfirst by ascending name and then decreasing date such thatHanging_Ten_Mom.jpg taken June 2000 would come after Hanging_Ten.jpg butbefore Hanging_Ten_Mom.jpg taken May 2000. A further example can bealphabetically ordering content objects that are larger than 5 Mb. Oneof skill in the art will appreciate that other such ordering, sorting,and filtering can be employed and that all such techniques are withinthe scope of the current disclosure.

More specifically, FIG. 1 depicts an example system 100 that facilitatesemploying a tumbler-style graphical user interface (TSGUI) in accordwith aspects of the claimed subject matter. System 100 can include inputcomponent(s) 110. Input component(s) 110 can at least in part facilitateentry of input related to selecting a content object (not illustrated)of a tumbler component (not illustrated). Input component(s) 100 can becommunicatively coupled to a tumbler-style graphical user interfacecomponent (TSGUIC) 120. TSGUIC 120 can be communicatively coupled to acontent store component 130. Content store component 130 can includestored content. This content can be user accessible content.

TSGUIC 120 can facilitate user access to content of content storecomponent 130. TSGUIC 120 can include two or more tumbler components(not illustrated) that can reflect access paths to content of contentstore component 130. Content of content store component 130 can beaccessed by traversing a path to the accessible content. TSGUIC 120 canaccept user selection of reflected paths by way of tumbler componentcontent object selections (not illustrated). This can result in accessof a final information of content store component 130. Informationrelated to access of the final information can be presented by way ofoutput component(s) 140 which can be communicatively coupled to TSGUIC120.

In an aspect, input component(s) 110 can include any modality of inputdevice or system that can facilitate a user selecting an information ofTSGUIC 120. For example, input component(s) 110 can include, but is notlimited to, a 5-way keypad, a jog dial, a touch screen, a keyboard, akey pad, a numerical key pad, a mousing interface, a voice interface, atouch pad, etc., or combinations thereof. For example, a user can use arotary jog dial to traverse and/or select selectable informations (e.g.,content objects, not illustrated) through the TSGUIC 120, reflecting, atleast in part, a path to a final information of content store component130.

The selection process undertaken by a user of system 100 can bereflected by output component(s) 140. For example, as the user selectsone or more content objects (not illustrated) through TSGUIC 120 byemploying input component(s) 110, the user traverses and/or user selectsof content objects can be rendered on a display by way of outputcomponent(s) 140. Further, for example, where a user indicates access toa final information, the final information can be accessed of thecontent store component 130 for presentation on a display by way ofoutput component(s) 140. This example is intended to be a particularnon-limiting example illustrating one possible output component 140.However, the output component(s) 140 can include any one of a nearlylimitless number of output components, for example, a display (LCD, CRT,etc.), a speaker, a video driver, a driver for a user interface, aprojected display, a tactile user interface, or any other form ofoutputting information and/or content to a user. System 100 can supportthe other various aspects of a tumbler-style interface as disclosedherein. Moreover, various features related to TSGUIC 120 or similarcomponents are also disclosed in more detail herein.

FIG. 2 depicts example systems 200 and 202 that can facilitate employinga tumbler-style graphical user interface (TSGUI) in accord with aspectsof the claimed subject matter. System 200 can include TSGUIC 220 thatcan be the same as or similar to other TSGUICs herein, for exampleTSGUIC 120, among others. In an aspect, TSGUIC 220 can include two ormore tumbler components, for example 230, 240 . . . 250.

Each tumbler component (230-250) can facilitate selection of aninformation. The selected informations can facilitate access to a finalinformation. Tumbler component 230 can be a first tumbler component tofacilitate entry of a first information. This information can beanalogous to selecting a first number for a first mechanical tumbler ofa mechanical combination lock. Similarly, tumbler component 240 can be asecond tumbler component to facilitate entry of a second information.This second information can be analogous to selecting a second numberfor a second mechanical tumbler of a mechanical combination lock. Thispattern can continue through tumbler component 250, wherein a terminalinformation can be entered. This terminal information can be a finalinformation and/or can complete a path comprised of the portions of theprior tumbler component selections 230, 240, etc., leading to a finalinformation. A terminal information can be analogous to entering a lastnumber for a last mechanical tumbler in a mechanical combination locksuch that the combination for the lock is complete and can be opened.Unlike the analogous combination lock with just one correct combinationsequence access the mechanical tumblers, there can be many particular“combinations” selected across the plurality of tumble components230-250.

Drawing on the analogy to a series of mechanical tumblers, the tumblercomponents 230-250 can each contain a plurality of informations that canbe traversed and/or selected. For example, in the analogical lock, eachtumbler can have the numerals 0-9, and a user can rotate through thenumerals and/or select one of the numerals. Similar analogies can bemade to mechanical tumblers with symbols, glyphs, textualrepresentations and the like.

Unlike the analogical examples, the tumbler components 230-250 can eachhave one or more informations (e.g., content objects 232, 234, 236 oftumbler 231 of system 202) and the number of informations can be staticor dynamic. By way of example, tumbler component 230 can always have,for example, three content objects (e.g., same as or similar to contentobjects 232-236), for instance, “music”, “photos”, and “videos”. Thiscan facilitate the user traversing/selecting from the content objects.As another example, tumbler component 240 can have a dynamic number ofcontent objects (e.g., same as or similar to content objects 232-236),for example reflecting a subset of information related to the selectedcontent object of tumbler 230. For instance, if tumbler component 230indicates “music” by selection of the music content object, tumblercomponent 240 can indicate musical genera stored on memory (e.g., amusical genus at each content object of tumbler 240). The number ofmusical genus content objects can vary and this variation can bereflected in the manner in which tumbler 240 is populated with contentobjects (e.g., same as or similar to content objects 232-236). As afurther expansion of the example, additional tumbler components havingone or more content objects each can be presented for user selection ofinformations from subsets of the prior selections. Thus at tumblercomponent 250, for example, song titles can be presented for aparticular selected musical genus. Each song title at tumbler component250 can be populated as a content object that can be the same as orsimilar to content objects 232-236. A final information can be selectedfrom these content objects and can facilitate the user accessing, inthis particular example, the indicated song of the particular musicalgenus from memory also containing video and photos.

As previously disclosed, the number of tumbler components 230-250 can bebased on a predetermined number, or can be dynamic in number. A staticnumber of tumbler components can be analogous to a mechanicalcombination lock that employs a constant number of mechanical tumblers(e.g., tumblers are traversed or remain in a default state but thenumber of tumblers is static). Thus for example, there can always be,for example, four tumbler components 230-250. Static tumbler componentcounts can be useful where a user desired final information is alwaysdefinable with the predetermined tumbler count. For example, where theTSGUIC 220 is employed in an mp3 player and a song selection (e.g., afinal information) can always be determined by“genera→artist→album→song”, four tumblers is sufficient and isfunctional even though the number of tumblers is static at fourtumblers.

In contrast to common mechanical combination locks, the TSGUIC 220 canemploy a dynamic number of tumbler components 230-250. Thus, forexample, where a user can need 2 tumblers to access some content butneed 15 tumblers to access other content, the number of tumblerspresented can be dynamically expanded or retracted as needed to achieveselecting a final information.

The count of tumbler components 230-250 employed to select a finalinformation can be displayed in a high context manner. That is, at leasta plurality of the tumbler components (for either a static or dynamicnumber of tumbler components) can be displayed or otherwise presented toa user. This provides context for the user in that the user can be awareof the selections for each of the presented tumbler components. In anexample, where four tumbler components are employed, all four tumblercomponents can be presented to the user such that the user is aware ofthe selected content object of each of the four tumblers. For instance,the tumbler component content objects selected can reflect:“Jazz→Louis_Armstrong→Hello_Dolly→Hello_Dolly”, this allows the user tounderstand that the particular final information (e.g., the song HelloDolly) is from the Louis Armstrong album Hello Dolly of the Jazz genusof a content store. This high context schema provides additional contentinformation over more conventional drill down systems and in a differentmanner than more conventional tree or node-type diagrams. Where thereare more tumbler components than can be effectively displayed, sometumbler components can be compacted to reflect context more efficiently,tumblers can be scrolled off-display, etc., so long as at least aplurality of tumbler components remain presented to the user to providethe higher level of context over more conventional drill-down schema.

FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 depict example vertical orientations of possibleexample systems that facilitate employing tumbler-style graphical userinterfaces (TSGUI) in accord with the claimed subject matter. While, forpurposes of simplicity of explanation, the systems are shown anddescribed as a vertical series of tumbler components, it is to beunderstood and appreciated that the claimed subject matter is notlimited by this particular orientation of tumbler components asdisclosed herein. Moreover, not all illustrated tumbler components canbe required to select a final information in accordance with the claimedsubject matter. These particular example systems can also serve as aframework on which to disclose further aspects of the current subjectmatter that is equally applicable to the other systems, devices, andmethods disclosed herein. As such, aspects disclosed in relation toFIGS. 3, 4, and 5 are not so limited just these example systems.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example vertical orientation of one possibleexample system 300 that facilitates employing a tumbler-style graphicaluser interface (TSGUI) in accord with aspects of the claimed subjectmatter. System 300 can include a vertical arrangement of at least aplurality of tumbler components 310-350. Each of the tumbler componentsof system 300 can include one or more content objects (312-316, 322-326,332-336, 342-346 . . . 352-356). Content objects can be arrangedhorizontally within each tumbler component of system 300. One of skillin the art will appreciate that other arrangements within the verticalframework of system 300 are within the scope of the disclosed subjectmatter, for example, content objects can be in an M×N matrix within eachvertically arrange tumbler component, etc.

In an aspect, selection of particular content objects of each tumblercomponent of system 300 can be by alignment. For example, FIG. 3 depictscontent objects 312, 322, 332, 342 . . . 352 aligned at a particularposition across tumbler components 310-350. This can be analogous to amechanical combination lock wherein the combination is entered byaligning the tumbler markings to open the lock. This scheme as appliedin a TSGUI can be familiar to users and can facilitate rapid acceptanceof said TSGUI. Where alignment is employed as a selection mechanism fora TSGUI, the content objects can be moved in a horizontal directionwithin each of the tumbler components 310-350 to facilitate alignmentacross the plurality of tumbler components of system 300. For example,content object 316 can be moved left within tumbler component 310 (withcontent objects 314 and 312 similarly being leftwardly displaced andpotentially moving beyond the displayed area of tumbler component 310).This leftward movement of content object 316 can bring 316 intoalignment with content objects 322, 332, 342 . . . 352, and as such canprovide a different “combination” for accessing a final content. One ofskill in the art will appreciate that numerous other modalities forindicating a selection of a content object can be employed and that allsuch modalities are equally within the scope of the present disclosure,for instance, non-aligned content objects can be selectively“highlighted” by, for example, mouse-clicking, etc.

In a further aspect, it becomes apparent that where more senior tumblercomponent selections are indicated, more junior tumbler components canreflect, at least in part, a subset of content related to the selectionwithin the more senior tumbler component. Moreover, where reselectioncan occur across the plurality of tumbler components, the subsets ofcontent in tumbler components junior to the changed tumbler componentcan be altered. Thus, altering the senior selections can be doneindependent of altering the junior selections (“independent selection”schema), can be done independent of altering the junior selectionsdependant of the continuing validity of the junior selections (“validitydependant selection” schema), can be related to inferential alterationof junior selections (“inferential selection” schema), can be related toclearing one or more junior selections (“clearing children selection”schema), or some combination thereof. Further, while not disclosed inmore detail herein, altering junior selections can be employed inremapping more senior tumbler component populations.

In an aspect, “independent selection” indicates that a juniorinformation selection can be left unaltered when a senior informationselection is altered (e.g., altering the senior selection can be anindependent action from altering a junior selection). This can beparticularly useful, for example, when the user wants to alter aplurality of senior tumbler component selections before changes to thejunior tumbler information are reflected. In addition, where the samejunior information is in fact valid under the altered senior selection,altering the senior tumbler selection can result in a valid path. Forexample, where a song has been performed by two different artists,changing the “artist tumbler” selection (e.g., a more senior tumblercomponent) from the first performer to the second performer withoutchanging the “song title tumbler” selection (e.g., a more junior tumblercomponent) can result in valid access to the desired song without havingto alter the more junior tumbler component selection.

In a further aspect, “validity dependant selection” indicates that adetermination of validity for junior tumbler component content objectscan be employed. In contrast, to independent selection relationships, ajunior selection can be dependent on continuing validity in light of thealteration of the senior tumbler component selection. Thus, where ajunior tumbler component content object is not valid under thereselected senior tumbler component, the selectable information in thejunior tumbler component can be altered to be made valid (a new subsetcan be populated to select from) or removed (grayed-out, shaded, orotherwise indicated as an invalid selection information in relation tothe alteration of the senior tumbler component selection). This is ahighly intuitive embodiment in which junior tumbler componentsdynamically reflect alterations to more senior tumbler componentselections.

In another aspect, “inferential selection” indicates that where seniortumbler component information selections are altered, the junior tumblerselections can be intelligently populated. This can be reflective ofinferences related to the prior junior tumbler component selections. Forexample, a junior tumbler component content object may not be validunder a reselection in a senior tumbler component, but metadata canindicate that the junior content object was related to topic X such thatwhen the senior selection is altered, the junior tumbler informationscan be altered to intelligently reflect pre-selection of topic X relatedcontent objects in the junior tumbler component based at least in parton an inference related to the prior junior selection and/or thereselection of the senior selection.

In a still further aspect, a “clearing children” schema can simplytruncate junior tumbler component populations to a single junior levelbelow an altered senior reselection. Thus, where a senior tumblerselection is altered, one or more levels of junior tumbler selectionscan be cleared. Thus, for example, assume tumbler components 310-350have selections indicated and reflecting subsets of content object 312.A user can reselect at tumbler component 310, for example from contentobject 312 to 314. Under a clearing children schema, the example changecan result in repopulation of tumbler component 320 with content objectsreflecting, at least in part, a subset of informations related to newlyselected content object 314 (compared to the prior content object 312)and tumbler components 330-350 can be cleared pending selection of aninformation from at least tumbler component 320.

One of skill in the art will appreciate that aspects of these variousschemata can be combined to form other schemata and that all suchschemata are within the scope of the subject disclosure. For instance, aclearing children schema can be combined with an inference schema. Theresulting schema can, for example, clear all but one junior tumblercomponent but populate that tumbler component with content objects in aninferential manner based at least in part on the prior selections.

Moreover, one of skill in the art will appreciate that content objectsas disclosed herein, and as disclosed elsewhere wherein, can be anyrepresentation facilitating access to a final information, and that allsuch content object representations are within the scope of the subjectdisclosure. As such, content objects can be filenames, thumbnails,images, directories, storage locations, phone numbers, IP addresses,passwords, categories, genera, etc.

Turning to FIG. 4, depicted is another example vertical orientation ofone possible example system 400 that facilitates employing atumbler-style graphical user interface (TSGUI) in accord with aspects ofthe claimed subject matter. System 400 can include a verticalarrangement of at least a plurality of tumbler components 410-450 whichcan be the same as, or similar to, tumbler components 310-350 of system300. Similarly, each of the tumbler components of system 400 can includeone or more content objects 412-416, 422-426, 432-436, 442-446 . . .452-456 which can be the same as, or similar to the content componentsof system 300.

FIG. 4 depicts system 400 as a simplistic example wherein a file isdesired as a final information. As such, a file path can be defined toaccess this desired final information. Moreover, the file path can bebut one of many possible file paths to access the desired finalinformation residing in memory. One of skill in the art will appreciatethat this example is given merely to better illuminate some of theaspects of the subject disclosure and should not be considered limitingin any manner. The file path can reflected in FIG. 4 can be:“C:\MyDocuments\Pictures\Vacation_Maui\ . . . \Maui.jpg”.

System 400 can include a top level tumbler component 410 reflectingselection of content object 412 “C drive”. At tumbler component 420,content object 422, “My Documents” can be selected. Similarly, contentobject 432, “Pictures” can be selected at tumbler component 430. Tumblercomponent 440 can indicate selection of content object 442 for the file“Vacation Maui”. This can continue to further define additional portionsof the file path to facilitate access to final information,“Maui-5.jpg”, which information can be selected at tumbler component 450by selecting content object 452 as a terminal information.

In an aspect, the content objects selected in example system 400, asdepicted, reflect portions of the file path to the desired finalinformation (e.g., photo Maui-5.jpg) and need not be literal portions ofthe file path. For example, content object 412 can depict “C DRIVE” torepresent the drive “C” and need not be depicted as “C:\\” or some othermore traditional representation of the C drive in a file path depiction.This aspect is reflected in other selected content objects of system400. The disclosed subject matter can, however, literally reflectportions of the file path where this is desirable.

In another aspect, system 400 illustrates the high context aspect ofTSGUI as disclosed herein. It can be rapidly discerned that the finalinformation is located within the disclosed path. Further, alteration ofmore senior tumblers of system 400 can facilitate rapid navigation alongalternate paths where the desired final information is not located inthe currently selected path.

In a further aspect, system 400 illustrates that mixed types of contentobjects can populate tumbler components. For example, content object 456is a “file folder” type of content object representation. This can becontrasted with content objects 452 and 454 both of which are “imagefile” type content object representations. Moreover, content object 454,for example, can be represented with a thumbnail of image Maui-4.jpgrather than the textual representation of the same. This mixedrepresentation facilitates rapid navigation to desired finalinformations and can facilitate novel representations of tree or nodestructures.

FIG. 5 depicts a further example vertical orientation of one possibleexample system 500 that facilitates employing a tumbler-style graphicaluser interface (TSGUI) in accord with aspects of the claimed subjectmatter. System 500 can be the same as or similar to system 400. The filepath reflected in FIG. 4 can be: “C:\MyDocuments\Music\ByStyle\ByArtist\NinaSimone\ . . .\I_Want_A_Little_Sugar_In_My_Bowl.mp3”.

System 500 can include a top level tumbler component 510 reflectingselection of content object 512 “Music”. At tumbler component 520,content object 522, “Jazz” can be selected, indicating a genusselection. Similarly, content object 532, “by artist” can be selected attumbler component 530. Tumbler component 540 can indicate selection ofcontent object 542 for the file “Nina Simone”. This can continue tofurther define additional portions of the file path to facilitate accessto final information, “Sugar in my bowl.mp3”, which information can beselected at tumbler component 550 by selecting content object 552 as aterminal information.

In an aspect, system 500 clearly illustrates an contrasting approach toaccessing a final information than that disclosed for system 400. System500 depicts path definition by class rather than by strictly defining apath in a serialized manner. Thus, rather than selecting “folder” as isconventional for file tree navigation, a user can select content objectsrepresentative of classes such as music, pictures, emoticons, etc., forexample as depicted in tumbler component 510. For example, where “music”is selected at content object 512, this can represent a plurality ofpaths to accessible music files of a memory or other content store(e.g., content store component 130 of system 100). At content object 522a subset of music can be selected, namely the Jazz genus, which can be areflection of various subsets of the paths of the prior selection. Thiscan proceed until a terminal selection can be made at selectioncomponent 552, for the song “I want a little sugar in my bowl” by NinaSimone. Merely stringing together the selections of the tumblercomponents of system 500 (e.g., “music→jazz→by artist→nina simone→sugarin my bowl.mp3”) results in a “path” that could not typically bedirectly traversed by most currently computing systems. However, thisillustrates that the selections at the tumblers can be a representationof additional background computing. In this particular example, the“path” is more akin to a database query but in any case can result infacilitating user access to the desired song in memory.

In another aspect, the representations of the content objects can beabstracted to facilitate display in a limited display environment, forexample on a mobile device such as a smart phone or personal digitalassistant (PDA). Thus, where the example song title is lengthy,variations can be employed to achieve an indication of a final selectionfrom a user. This can include, displaying the entire file name (e.g., “Iwant a little sugar in my bowl—Nina Simone.mp3”). In an aspect, the fullname can have a particular footprint. Where this footprint isundesirably large, the full name can be scrolled across a decreasedfootprint. Similarly, a truncated or compacted form of the name can beemployed (e.g., “ . . . [S]ugar in my bowl . . . Nina Simone.mp3”, “Iwant . . . sugar . . . bowl”, etc.) Also, an alternative representationcan be employed, for instance, “most played, Nina Simone”. One of skillin the art will appreciate that these and other techniques forcommunicating to a user the nature of the final selection can beemployed alone or in combination and that all such techniques are withinthe overall scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates example systems 600 and 602 that facilitate employinga tumbler-style graphical user interface (TSGUI) with and without cyclictraverse in accord with aspects of the claimed subject matter. System600 depicts a cyclic traverse of content objects of tumbler component610. Thus, when traversing rightward of content object 616 (where 616would otherwise be the rightmost content object) results in traversingto the content object 614 (where 614 is the leftmost object).Alternatively, the objects of the tumbler component 610 can appear torotate such that content object 616 is followed by 614. By analogy,where a mechanical tumbler represents the numbers 0 to 9, the tumblertraverses seamlessly from 9 to 0 as the tumbler is rotated within thelock.

In contrast, system 602 depicts a linear or sequential population oftumbler component 620. In system, 602 there is a right and left terminalcontent object. Attempting to traverse beyond the extents of the listdoes not return the user to the beginning of the list as in a cyclictraverse (see system 600). By analogy, system 602 is similar to a volumeslider or volume knob wherein the volume can range between 0 and 10 butdoes not permit adjusting the volume above 10 or below 0 or tocyclically return to 0 from maximum volume or conversely to directlyreach maximum volume from silence without traversing the intermediatevolume levels.

In a further aspect, either cyclical or linear scrolling can beassociated with accelerated scrolling. Accelerated scrolling allowsrapid traverse of content objects of a tumbler component. As an example,scrolling can scroll by object, by a predetermined number of objects, orby percentage of total objects, etc., or combinations thereof. Forexample, where five content objects are displayed in the visible area ofa tumbler component, scrolling can be by three objects at a time, suchthat object 4 moves to object 1's position object 5 moves to object 2'sposition, etc. for a first scroll step. At a second scroll step, object8 would move to object 4's position, etc. (e.g., the 4^(th) positionagain moves to the 1^(st) position, . . . ) Similarly, some otherpredetermined number of objects or a percentage of total objects can beused to accelerate scrolling through large volumes of content objects ofa tumbler. These techniques can be combined to facilitate dynamicacceleration such that an initially a scroll can be slower, thenaccelerate to a second pace, then accelerate again to a more acceleratedpace, and so on until the user can scroll through the content objects atthe desired speed. Similarly, deceleration can employ these sametechniques to step down accelerated scroll to a more meaningful scrollspeed for a user.

FIGS. 7 and 8 depict example methods in accord with the claimed subjectmatter. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the methodsare shown and described as a series of acts, it is to be understood andappreciated that the claimed subject matter is not limited by the orderof acts, as some acts can occur in different orders and/or concurrentlywith other acts from that shown and described herein. For example, thoseskilled in the art will understand and appreciate that a method couldalternatively be represented as a series of interrelated states orevents, such as in a state diagram. Moreover, not all illustrated actscan be required to implement a method in accordance with the claimedsubject matter. Additionally, it should be further appreciated that themethods disclosed hereinafter and throughout this specification arecapable of being stored on an article of manufacture to facilitatetransporting and transferring such methods to computers.

FIG. 7 depicts an example method 700 that facilitates employing atumbler-style graphical user interface (TSGUI) in accord with aspects ofthe claimed subject matter. At 710, a first tumbler component can bepopulated with at least a selectable content object. At 720, system 700can receive a selection of a content object of a tumbler component. Inthe first pass through block 720, the selection can relate to thepopulation of content object(s) of the first tumbler component.

At 730, a second tumbler component can be populated with at least aselectable content object. The at least a content object of the secondtumbler component reflecting, at least in part, a subset of contentrelated to the prior selected content object. In a non-limiting example,where the first tumbler is populated with drive letter content objectsat 710, of which the C-drive is selected at 720, at 730 the secondtumbler component can be populated with content objects representing thesubfolders of the selected C-drive.

At 740, system 700 facilitates dynamic changes to the selected contentobjects of tumbler components facilitating access to a terminal contentobject. For instance, system 700 can facilitate receiving an indicationof a changed selection for the first tumbler component selection.Continuing the above example, an indication can be received at 740 thata user has selected the A-drive at the first tumbler, replacing theselection of the C-drive originally received at 720.

At 745, where a final selection has not occurred (e.g., an indication ofa terminal content object has not be received as disclosed herein),blocks 720, 730 and 740 can be repeated. This can include populatingadditional tumbler components and/or repopulating existing tumblercomponent populations as disclosed herein (e.g., by “independentselection”, “validity dependant selection”, “inferential selection”,“clearing children selection”, . . . ).

Where a terminal content object has been indicated, system 700 canfacilitate accessing the final selection at 750. For example, wheresystem 700 has received indications across a plurality of tumblers for afile path to a web page, receiving a terminal selection indication ofthe indicated web page can, at least in part, cause the indicated webpage to be displayed to a user of a system employing method 700.Similarly, where method 700 is employed in a “texting” environment, forexample on a mobile device such as a smartphone, indications of“emoticons→smileyfaces→bigsmile” can, at least in part, cause a“bigsmile” emoticon to be entered inline into a text message beingcomposed by the user.

At this point method 700 can end. One of skill in the art willappreciate that system 700 can support many of the aspects of therelated systems disclosed herein even where those aspects are notdirectly and expressly illustrated in relation to the example methodsand that such aspects are contemplated to be within the scope of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example method 800 that facilitates employing atumbler-style graphical user interface (TSGUI) in accord with aspects ofthe claimed subject matter. At 810, a first tumbler component can bepopulated with at least a selectable content object. At 820, a selectionof a content object of a tumbler component can be received. At 830, atumbler component can be populated with at least a selectable contentobject. This can include consideration of inferences related toselection indications.

The at least a content object, at 830, of the tumbler componentreflects, at least in part, a subset of content related to the priorselected content object and can be similar to block 730 of method 700.However, in contrast to block 730, block 830 further incorporates areflection of an inference at least in part related to a prior selectionwithin system 800. The inference can, for example, be related to namingcontent objects for display to a user based on inferences relating toprior user selections of content. As another example, where a userregularly selects a particular spreadsheet file, the content objectspopulation can be skewed to the regularly selected file (e.g., sortedfor rapid access to the file, using a highlight around the regularlyselected file, etc.) based on an inference that the user is seeking thissame file based on the historic selections of this file, presuming thatfile is also reflected as a subset of the received selection at 820.

At 840, system 800 facilitates dynamic changes to the selected contentobjects of tumbler components facilitating access to a terminal contentobject. For instance, system 800 can facilitate receiving an indicationof a changed selection for the first tumbler component selection. At845, where a final selection has not occurred, blocks 820, 830 and 840can be repeated. This can include populating additional tumblercomponents and/or repopulating existing tumbler component populations asdisclosed herein (e.g., by “independent selection”, “validity dependantselection”, “inferential selection”, “clearing children selection”, . .. ). Where a terminal content object has been indicated, system 800 canfacilitate accessing the final selection at 850. At this point method800 can end.

One of skill in the art will appreciate that system 800 can support manyof the aspects of the related systems disclosed herein even where thoseaspects are not directly and expressly illustrated in relation to theexample methods and that such aspects are contemplated to be within thescope of the present disclosure. Further, it will be appreciated thatinferences (e.g., employing artificial intelligence) into populatingtumbler components with content objects can be a powerful tool that canleverage the high level of context available to user's of devicesemploying method 800. Numerous diverse examples can be developedillustrating the use of inferences in populating tumbler components andall such examples are considered directly in the scope of the currentdisclosure.

For example, a series of tumblers can be populated toward finding aphoto of a user's child on a climbing trip. A first series of tumblerselection can include selections that relate to vacations, climbing, andimages of the child. Where the desired final information is not locatedthe user can rapidly reselect a senior tumbler selection given that theuser has a high level of context when using a TSGUI. The reselectioncan, at least in part, cause repopulation of the more junior tumblercomponents. This population can employ inference to populate the juniortumblers with content objects that can be similarly related and canfacilitate the user more rapidly finding the desired photo. Theseinferences can be based, at least in part, on the prior selectionsrelating to vacations, climbing, and images of the child. In oneparticular embodiment, a content object such as “suggested images” canbe included in the first tumbler junior to the senior tumbler containingthe changed selection indication. This example is of course intended tobe non-limiting and is presented only to illustrate applied aspects ofthe disclosed method.

In order to provide additional context for various aspects of theclaimed subject matter, FIG. 9 and the following discussion are intendedto provide a brief, general description of a suitable computingenvironment 900 in which the various aspects described herein can beimplemented. While the description above is in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions that can run on one or more computers,those skilled in the art will recognize that the claimed subject matteralso can be implemented in combination with other program modules and/oras a combination of hardware and software.

Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, datastructures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the inventive methods can be practiced with other computer systemconfigurations, including single-processor or multiprocessor computersystems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, as well as personalcomputers, hand-held computing devices, microprocessor-based orprogrammable consumer electronics, and the like, each of which can beoperatively coupled to one or more associated devices.

The illustrated aspects of the claimed subject matter can also bepracticed in distributed computing environments where certain tasks areperformed by remote processing devices that are linked through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, programmodules can be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

A computer typically includes a variety of computer-readable media.Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby the computer and includes both volatile and non-volatile media,removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and notlimitation, computer-readable media can comprise computer storage mediaand communication media. Computer storage media includes both volatileand non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in anymethod or technology for storage of information such ascomputer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules orother data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM,ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalvideo disk (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or any other medium which can be used to store the desired informationand which can be accessed by the computer.

Communication media typically embodies computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated datasignal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includesany information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means asignal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed insuch a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example,and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as awired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such asacoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of the anyof the above should also be included within the scope of communicationmedia derived from computer-readable media and capable of subsequentlypropagating through electrically conductive media, (e.g., such as asystem bus, microprocessor, data port, and the like) and/ornon-electrically conductive media (e.g., in the form of radio frequency,microwave frequency, optical frequency and similar electromagneticfrequency modulated data signals).

With reference again to FIG. 9, the example environment 900 forimplementing various aspects includes a computer 902, the computer 902including a processing unit 904, a system memory 906 and a system bus908. The system bus 908 couples system components including, but notlimited to, the system memory 906 to the processing unit 904. Theprocessing unit 904 can be any of various commercially availableprocessors, such a single core processor, a multi-core processor, or anyother suitable arrangement of processors. The system bus 908 can be anyof several types of bus structure that can further interconnect to amemory bus (with or without a memory controller), a peripheral bus, anda local bus using any of a variety of commercially available busarchitectures. The system memory 906 can include read-only memory (ROM),random access memory (RAM), high-speed RAM (such as static RAM), EPROM,EEPROM, and/or the like. Additionally or alternatively, the computer 902can include a hard disk drive, upon which program instructions, data,and the like can be retained. Moreover, removable data storage can beassociated with the computer 902. Hard disk drives, removable media,computer-readable storage media, etc. can be communicatively coupled tothe processing unit 904 by way of the system bus 908.

The system memory 906 can retain a number of program modules, such as anoperating system, one or more application programs, other programmodules, and program data. All or portions of an operating system,applications, modules, and/or data can be, for instance, cached in RAM,retained upon a hard disk drive, or any other suitable location. A usercan enter commands and information into the computer 902 through one ormore wired/wireless input devices, such as a keyboard, pointing andclicking mechanism, pressure sensitive screen, microphone, joystick,stylus pen, etc. A monitor or other type of interface can also beconnected to the system bus 908.

The computer 902 can operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections via wired and/or wireless communications to one or moreremote computers, phones, or other computing devices, such asworkstations, server computers, routers, personal computers, portablecomputers, microprocessor-based entertainment appliances, peer devicesor other common network nodes, etc. The computer 902 can connect toother devices/networks by way of antenna, port, network interfaceadaptor, wireless access point, modem, and/or the like.

The computer 902 is operable to communicate with any wireless devices orentities operatively disposed in wireless communication, e.g., aprinter, scanner, desktop and/or portable computer, portable dataassistant, communications satellite, any piece of equipment or locationassociated with a wirelessly detectable tag (e.g., a kiosk, news stand,restroom), and telephone. This includes at least WiFi and Bluetooth™wireless technologies. Thus, the communication can be a predefinedstructure as with a conventional network or simply an ad hoccommunication between at least two devices.

WiFi, or Wireless Fidelity, allows connection to the Internet from acouch at home, a bed in a hotel room, or a conference room at work,without wires. WiFi is a wireless technology similar to that used in acell phone that enables such devices, e.g., computers, to send andreceive data indoors and out, anywhere within the range of a basestation. WiFi networks use radio technologies called IEEE 802.11 (a, b,g, etc.) to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless connectivity. A WiFinetwork can be used to connect computers to each other, to the Internet,and to wired networks (which use IEEE 802.3 or Ethernet). WiFi networksoperate in the unlicensed 2.4 and 5 GHz radio bands, at an 11 Mbps(802.11a) or 54 Mbps (802.11b) data rate, for example, or with productsthat contain both bands (dual band), so the networks can providereal-world performance similar to the basic 10BaseT wired Ethernetnetworks used in many offices.

Now turning to FIG. 10, such figure depicts a GSM/GPRS/IP multimedianetwork architecture 1000 that includes a GSM core network 1001, a GPRSnetwork 1030 and an IP multimedia network 1038. The GSM core network1001 includes a Mobile Station (MS) 1002, at least one Base TransceiverStation (BTS) 1004 and a Base Station Controller (BSC) 1006. The MS 1002is physical equipment or Mobile Equipment (ME), such as a mobile phoneor a laptop computer that is used by mobile subscribers, with aSubscriber identity Module (SIM). The SIM includes an InternationalMobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), which is a unique identifier of asubscriber. The MS 1002 includes an embedded client 1002 a that receivesand processes messages received by the MS 1002. The embedded client 1002a can be implemented in JAVA and is discuss more fully below.

The embedded client 1002 a communicates with an application 1002 b thatprovides services and/or information to an end user. One example of theapplication can be navigation software that provides near real-timetraffic information that is received via the embedded client 1002 a tothe end user. The navigation software can provide road conditions,suggest alternate routes, etc. based on the location of the MS 1002.Those of ordinary skill in the art understand that there are manydifferent methods and systems of locating an MS 1002.

Alternatively, the MS 1002 and a device 1002 c can be enabled tocommunicate via a short-range wireless communication link, such asBLUETOOTH. For example, a BLUETOOTH SIM Access Profile can be providedin an automobile (e.g., device 1002 c) that communicates with the SIM inthe MS 1002 to enable the automobile's communications system to pullinformation from the MS 1002. The BLUETOOTH communication system in thevehicle becomes an “embedded phone” that employs an antenna associatedwith the automobile. The result is improved reception of calls made inthe vehicle. As one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize, anautomobile is one example of the device 1002 c. There can be an endlessnumber of devices 1002 c that use the SIM within the MS 1002 to provideservices, information, data, audio, video, etc. to end users.

The BTS 1004 is physical equipment, such as a radio tower, that enablesa radio interface to communicate with the MS. Each BTS can serve morethan one MS. The BSC 1006 manages radio resources, including the BTS.The BSC can be connected to several BTSs. The BSC and BTS components, incombination, are generally referred to as a base station (BSS) or radioaccess network (RAN) 1003.

The GSM core network 1001 also includes a Mobile Switching Center (MSC)1008, a Gateway Mobile Switching Center (GMSC) 1010, a Home LocationRegister (HLR) 1012, Visitor Location Register (VLR) 1014, anAuthentication Center (AuC) 1018, and an Equipment Identity Register(EIR) 1016. The MSC 1008 performs a switching function for the network.The MSC also performs other functions, such as registration,authentication, location updating, handovers, and call routing. The GMSC1010 provides a gateway between the GSM network and other networks, suchas an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) or Public SwitchedTelephone Networks (PSTNs) 1020. In other words, the GMSC 1010 providesinterworking functionality with external networks.

The HLR 1012 is a database or component(s) that comprises administrativeinformation regarding each subscriber registered in a corresponding GSMnetwork. The HLR 1012 also includes the current location of each MS. TheVLR 1014 is a database or component(s) that contains selectedadministrative information from the HLR 1012. The VLR containsinformation necessary for call control and provision of subscribedservices for each MS currently located in a geographical area controlledby the VLR. The HLR 1012 and the VLR 1014, together with the MSC 1008,provide the call routing and roaming capabilities of GSM. The AuC 1016provides the parameters needed for authentication and encryptionfunctions. Such parameters allow verification of a subscriber'sidentity. The EIR 1018 stores security-sensitive information about themobile equipment.

A Short Message Service Center (SMSC) 1009 allows one-to-one ShortMessage Service (SMS) messages to be sent to/from the MS 1002. A PushProxy Gateway (PPG) 1011 is used to “push” (e.g., send without asynchronous request) content to the MS 1002. The PPG 1011 acts as aproxy between wired and wireless networks to facilitate pushing of datato the MS 1002. A Short Message Peer to Peer (SMPP) protocol router 1013is provided to convert SMS-based SMPP messages to cell broadcastmessages. SMPP is a protocol for exchanging SMS messages between SMSpeer entities such as short message service centers. It is often used toallow third parties, e.g., content suppliers such as news organizations,to submit bulk messages.

To gain access to GSM services, such as speech, data, and short messageservice (SMS), the MS first registers with the network to indicate itscurrent location by performing a location update and IMSI attachprocedure. The MS 1002 sends a location update including its currentlocation information to the MSC/VLR, via the BTS 1004 and the BSC 1006.The location information is then sent to the MS's HLR. The HLR isupdated with the location information received from the MSC/VLR. Thelocation update also is performed when the MS moves to a new locationarea. Typically, the location update is periodically performed to updatethe database as location-updating events occur.

The GPRS network 1030 is logically implemented on the GSM core networkarchitecture by introducing two packet-switching network nodes, aserving GPRS support node (SGSN) 1032, a cell broadcast and a GatewayGPRS support node (GGSN) 1034. The SGSN 1032 is at the same hierarchicallevel as the MSC 1008 in the GSM network. The SGSN controls theconnection between the GPRS network and the MS 1002. The SGSN also keepstrack of individual MS's locations and security functions and accesscontrols.

A Cell Broadcast Center (CBC) 1033 communicates cell broadcast messagesthat are typically delivered to multiple users in a specified area. CellBroadcast is one-to-many geographically focused service. It enablesmessages to be communicated to multiple mobile phone customers who arelocated within a given part of its network coverage area at the time themessage is broadcast.

The GGSN 1034 provides a gateway between the GPRS network and a publicpacket network (PDN) or other IP networks 1036. That is, the GGSNprovides interworking functionality with external networks, and sets upa logical link to the MS through the SGSN. When packet-switched dataleaves the GPRS network, it is transferred to an external TCP-IP network1036, such as an X.25 network or the Internet. In order to access GPRSservices, the MS first attaches itself to the GPRS network by performingan attach procedure. The MS then activates a packet data protocol (PDP)context, thus activating a packet communication session between the MS,the SGSN, and the GGSN.

In a GSM/GPRS network, GPRS services and GSM services can be used inparallel. The MS can operate in one three classes: class A, class B, andclass C. A class A MS can attach to the network for both GPRS servicesand GSM services simultaneously. A class A MS also supports simultaneousoperation of GPRS services and GSM services. For example, class Amobiles can receive GSM voice/data/SMS calls and GPRS data calls at thesame time. A class B MS can attach to the network for both GPRS servicesand GSM services simultaneously. However, a class B MS does not supportsimultaneous operation of the GPRS services and GSM services. That is, aclass B MS can only use one of the two services at a given time. A classC MS can attach for only one of the GPRS services and GSM services at atime. Simultaneous attachment and operation of GPRS services and GSMservices is not possible with a class C MS.

A GPRS network 1030 can be designed to operate in three networkoperation modes (NOM1, NOM2 and NOM3). A network operation mode of aGPRS network is indicated by a parameter in system information messagestransmitted within a cell. The system information messages dictates a MSwhere to listen for paging messages and how signal towards the network.The network operation mode represents the capabilities of the GPRSnetwork. In a NOM1 network, a MS can receive pages from a circuitswitched domain (voice call) when engaged in a data call. The MS cansuspend the data call or take both simultaneously, depending on theability of the MS. In a NOM2 network, a MS cannot receive pages from acircuit switched domain when engaged in a data call, since the MS isreceiving data and is not listening to a paging channel. In a NOM3network, a MS can monitor pages for a circuit switched network whilereceived data and vise versa.

The IP multimedia network 1038 was introduced with 3GPP Release 5, andincludes an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) 1040 to provide richmultimedia services to end users. A representative set of the networkentities within the IMS 1040 are a call/session control function (CSCF),a media gateway control function (MGCF) 1046, a media gateway (MGW)1048, and a master subscriber database, called a home subscriber server(HSS) 1050. The HSS 1050 can be common to the GSM network 1001, the GPRSnetwork 1030 as well as the IP multimedia network 1038.

The IP multimedia system 1040 is built around the call/session controlfunction, of which there are three types: an interrogating CSCF (I-CSCF)1043, a proxy CSCF (P-CSCF) 1042, and a serving CSCF (S-CSCF) 1044. TheP-CSCF 1042 is the MS's first point of contact with the IMS 1040. TheP-CSCF 1042 forwards session initiation protocol (SIP) messages receivedfrom the MS to an SIP server in a home network (and vice versa) of theMS. The P-CSCF 1042 can also modify an outgoing request according to aset of rules defined by the network operator (for example, addressanalysis and potential modification).

The I-CSCF 1043 forms an entrance to a home network and hides the innertopology of the home network from other networks and providesflexibility for selecting an S-CSCF. The I-CSCF 1043 can contact asubscriber location function (SLF) 1045 to determine which HSS 1050 touse for the particular subscriber, if multiple HSS's 1050 are present.The S-CSCF 1044 performs the session control services for the MS 1002.This includes routing originating sessions to external networks androuting terminating sessions to visited networks. The S-CSCF 1044 alsodecides whether an application server (AS) 1052 is required to receiveinformation on an incoming SIP session request to ensure appropriateservice handling. This decision is based on information received fromthe HSS 1050 (or other sources, such as an application server 1052). TheAS 1052 also communicates to a location server 1056 (e.g., a GatewayMobile Location Center (GMLC)) that provides a position (e.g.,latitude/longitude coordinates) of the MS 1002.

The HSS 1050 contains a subscriber profile and keeps track of which corenetwork node is currently handling the subscriber. It also supportssubscriber authentication and authorization functions (AAA). In networkswith more than one HSS 1050, a subscriber location function providesinformation on the HSS 1050 that contains the profile of a givensubscriber.

The MGCF 1046 provides interworking functionality between SIP sessioncontrol signaling from the IMS 1040 and ISUP/BICC call control signalingfrom the external GSTN networks (not shown). It also controls the mediagateway (MGW) 1048 that provides user-plane interworking functionality(e.g., converting between AMR- and PCM-coded voice). The MGW 1048 alsocommunicates with other IP multimedia networks 1054.

What has been described above includes examples of the claimed subjectmatter. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivablecombination of components or methods for purposes of describing theclaimed subject matter, but one of ordinary skill in the art canrecognize that many further combinations and permutations of such matterare possible. Accordingly, the claimed subject matter is intended toembrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fallwithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, to theextent that the term “includes” is used in either the detaileddescription or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in amanner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising” is interpretedwhen employed as a transitional word in a claim.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a processor; and a memorythat stores executable instructions that, when executed by theprocessor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising: populatinga tumbler of a tumbler-style graphical user interface with firstobjects; and based on metadata associated with a first object selectedfrom the first objects, repopulating the tumbler with second objects. 2.The system of claim 1, wherein the metadata is first metadata and theoperations further comprise: organizing the second objects based onsecond metadata associated with the second objects.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving input datathat selects a second object of the second objects; and facilitating atransmission of the second object to a remote device.
 4. The system ofclaim 3, wherein the facilitating comprises facilitating thetransmission via a text message.
 5. The system of claim 3, wherein thereceiving comprises receiving input data that aligns the second objectwith an indicator.
 6. The system of claim 3, wherein the receivingcomprises receiving input data that highlights the second object.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: sorting thesecond objects based on temporal data associated with the secondobjects.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the populating comprisespopulating the tumbler with the first objects in response to receivingfirst selection data.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the repopulatingcomprises repopulating the tumbler with the second objects in responseto receiving second selection data.
 10. The system of claim 1, whereinthe repopulating comprises repopulating the tumbler with the secondobjects in response to determining that a validity criterion associatedwith the second objects has been satisfied.
 11. A method, comprising:facilitating, by a system comprising a processor, a first presentationof first objects of objects within a tumbler of a tumbler-stylegraphical user interface; and based on metadata associated with a firstobject selected from the first objects, facilitating, by the system, asecond presentation of second objects of the objects within the tumbler.12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: sorting, by the system,the second objects based on classification data associated with thesecond objects.
 13. The method of claim 11, further comprising: sorting,by the system, the second objects based on timing data associated withthe second objects.
 14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:sorting, by the system, the second objects based on size data associatedwith the second objects.
 15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:inserting, by the system, a second object of the second objects into atext message determined by a text messaging application.
 16. The methodof claim 11, wherein the facilitating the first presentation comprisesfacilitating the first presentation in response to receiving firstselection data and the facilitating the second presentation comprisesfacilitating the second presentation in response to receiving secondselection data.
 17. A machine-readable storage medium comprisingexecutable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a mobiledevice comprising a processor, to perform operations, comprising:facilitating a display of first objects of a group of objects within atumbler of a tumbler-style graphical user interface; and based onmetadata associated with a first object selected from the first objects,determining second objects of the group of objects that are to bedisplayed within the tumbler.
 18. The machine-readable storage medium ofclaim 17, wherein the operations further comprise: based on size dataassociated with the second objects, organizing the second objects withinthe tumbler.
 19. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17,wherein the operations further comprise: based on historical data,highlighting a second object of the second objects.
 20. Themachine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: facilitating a transmission of a second objectselected from the second objects via a text message.